India's Tata say will launch Nano car next month

Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
29,799
Likes
48,278
Country flag
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ivmO2TGsN6ksgTIZC1KqtM0qb4vQ

India's Tata say will launch Nano car next month

2 days ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) — India's Tata Motors announced Thursday the snub-nosed Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, will be launched next month.

"The much-awaited Tata Nano will be launched at a function in Mumbai on March 23," said Tata spokesman Debasis Ray.

"It will be a big day for the company," Ray told AFP, adding details about pricing and distribution would be announced at the launch.

The sporty-looking four-door Nano has drawn worldwide attention due to its planned price tag of just 100,000 rupees (2,000 dollars) for the basic model, which would make it the world's cheapest car.

The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April. Bookings will start from the second week of April.

Tata Motors was making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car -- "across the length and breadth of India," Ray said.
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
Finally TATA Nano is launched: Nano launch date revealed!


We have confirmed news about the launch date of Tata Motors' eagerly awaited people's car, the Nano. Read on to find out when!

They said it could not be made, they said they weren't sure if it would be a car, but Tata Motors will be silencing all critics with the unveiling of the Nano. The red-letter day in Indian automotive history has been set as March 23, 2009.

Bookings for the Nano are scheduled to begin from the second week of April, 2009. Tata Motors is promising a widespread network to support the high demand being anticipated for the car. Booking details will be revealed on the launch date.

Through the many ups and downs in the already eventful life of the car, it has seen skepticism followed by worldwide mania when the car was revealed at the 2008 Auto Expo in January last year. The Singur controversy followed, and had it not been for the fiasco it is likely that Nanos would have been plying on our streets today.

The past is behind us now, and not just the nation but the world will have its eyes peeled at the launch of the much-touted 1-lakh rupee car. We've spotted the car in and around Pune during its real-world test runs, and if the test mules are anything to go by, the car will definitely be no slouch either. Stay tuned in to ZigWheels.com for more on the car as the news breaks!


http://www.zigwheels.com/cars_in_in...12_20090226--/INDT/News/Nano12_20090226--1--1
 

shiv

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
326
Likes
47
did you guys hear about the european smart car???it gives an average of 100 kmpl...i wish tata could have incorporated that tech!!!
 

Payeng

Daku Mongol Singh
Senior Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
2,522
Likes
777
did you guys hear about the european smart car???it gives an average of 100 kmpl...i wish tata could have incorporated that tech!!!
If you would quote more technical information I will try to justify:)
 

EnlightenedMonk

Member of The Month JULY 2009
Senior Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
3,831
Likes
28
I'm getting ready for a lot of parking trouble in the near future... If this car is picked up by us Indians as we think it will be, in places like my city parking space will run out very soon !!!
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
Nano tanks up for road test challenge



23 Mar 2009, 0930 hrs IST, Pankaj Doval, TNN


NEW DELHI: Capping a journey full of admiration but not bereft of controversies, the Tata Nano is all set to steer India into automotive history. The small yet innovative car, revered for its tag of being the worlds cheapest, is ready to fuel up, promising an affordable and comfortable vehicle
to millions of Indians for whom a car was far out of reach.

The evolution of the snub-nosed, 4-seater 623cc rear engine car an idea and dream project of Tata group chairman Ratan Tata is considered as revolutionary as Fords Model T, Volkswagens Beetle and the British Motor Corps Mini, all of whom went on to rewrite automotive history. But as it gears up for its much-awaited launch on Monday, the car also stares at one of its stiffest challenges delivering on promises.

With Nano, Tata redefined frugal engineering for global automakers
when it promised to bring out the car for as low as Rs 1 lakh, below $2,000 at current exchange rates. Many automakers, though dumbfounded by Tatas budget price, questioned the veracity of the project and said it would not be able to meet the stiff safety and emission norms of today. But at its unveiling at the Auto Expo last year, Tata proved them wrong, reiterating that the Nano would not only meet the safety and emission norms prescribed in India but also in other developed countries, where it would be sold in the coming years.

But the journey to Nanos launch which has been delayed by at least six months has not been an easy one neither for Tata Motors nor for Ratan Tata. The project got mired in a political controversy in West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress spearheaded an agitation against the land given for the cars factory at Singur. After lingering for long, the issue reached a flashpoint and saw the Tatas withdrawing from the state late last year, only to head to Sanand in Gujarat, where production will take at least one year to start.

Tata Motors will now launch the Nano, but with limited production capacity that is believed to be only around 50,000-60,000 units in the first year (from makeshift assembly lines at its existing plants). This will make it a slow beginning for a blockbuster product where demand far outstrips supply. The Gujarat plant will see the company go full-out in production as it will churn out 2.5 lakh units annually.

Controversies apart, the Nano is also seen as a lifeline for the ailing Tata Motors, which saw its first loss in seven years in the December 08 quarter. Hit hard by a slowdown in demand for commercial vehicles and its cars, the company is in deep financial trouble. This comes at a time when the company has to refinance the remaining $2 billion of a $3 billion loan it took to buy the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co in June last year. Thus, performance of the Nanoand its success or failure would be crucial for the financial health of Tata Motors.

Domestic markets apart, Tata Motors also plans to take the car global as it recently unveiled the Nano Europa in Geneva, which is a slightly more robust version of the Indian model, and would be on sale in Europe in 2011.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Peoples-car-Nano-all-set-to-launch-today/articleshow/4302007.cms
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
The Nano in Images


Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata (right) and MD, Tata Motors,
Ravi Kant next to a Nano Europa at the 79th Geneva International
Motor Show. (PTI Photo)




Ratan Tata stands next to the models of Tata's Nano,
company's people's car, at its launch at the 9th Auto Expo
in New Delhi. (Pic courtesy: Percy Fernandes)




The Nano boasts of a rear-wheel drive and has a 2-cylinder,
624 cc multi-point fuel-injection petrol engine.




The Nano has safety features such as crumple zones
and intrusion-resistant doors. (Pic courtesy: Percy Fernandes)




Tata's revolutionary one lakh car consists of
tubeless tyres. (Pic courtesy: Percy Fernandes)




The Nano is less polluting than the two-wheelers
on Indian roads. (Pic courtesy: Percy Fernandes)




Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata poses with company's new Nano car
during its launch in New Delhi. (Reuters Photo)




The Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi.
(Pic courtesy: Percy Fernandes)




Nano is the world's cheapest car with a dealer price of
100,000 rupees ($2,500).




Tata will focus on selling the car in India for the next two to three
years before it eyes the Latin American and Southeast Asian markets.
 

Triton

Founding Member
Regular Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
342
Likes
9
did you guys hear about the european smart car???it gives an average of 100 kmpl...i wish tata could have incorporated that tech!!!
Are you talking about Nano's European version? or some other car on sales in Europe? As far the Nano's European version, it will be launched some where in 2011 and the price, engine and component quality of that car will be on higher side.

It will be difficult for Tata to incorporate those things to Peoples car as it will increase the price tag of Indian Nano.
 

Singh

Phat Cat
Super Mod
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
20,311
Likes
8,403
Country flag
I'm getting ready for a lot of parking trouble in the near future... If this car is picked up by us Indians as we think it will be, in places like my city parking space will run out very soon !!!
Tata is supplying as per its production capacity and not as per demand, enjoy whatever parking is left till the Gujarat mother plant comes online. :drink:
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
What's the Nano like to drive?

Tata Nano: "Triumph of Indian ingenuity"



15:10 GMT, Monday, 23 March 2009


India's Tata Motors has launched Nano, the world's cheapest car. Hormazd Sorabjee, one of the first journalists to test drive the car, says it feels more expensive than it is.

I have to admit I had a nagging fear that the Tata Nano wouldn't live up to the media frenzy that's been surrounding it.

It's been the most awaited car in the world and the delay in putting it on the road - due to the relocation of its production facilities - only increased the sense of anticipation.

, 14 months after the Nano was unveiled to a reception fit for a rock star, the moment of truth has come for the world's cheapest car.

There's been an apprehension that Tata's self-imposed price target of 100,000 rupees ($1,979, £1,366) would make the Nano an apology of a car and sceptics expected a glorified golf cart.

However, after driving the Nano in the western Indian city of Pune - home to Tata Motors - on the highway and rural back roads, it's turned out to be quite the opposite.

The Nano feels significantly more expensive than it is and a car you certainly won't be ashamed to sit in.


Well designed

Questions like, "Is it a proper car?" can be dismissed once and for all.

Getting in and out of the Nano is easier than in an Mercedes S-class and that's no exaggeration. The doors open wide and high seats allow you to slide onto them with the utmost ease.


'The more crowded the street,
the better the Nano gets'


The well-designed but basic interiors are far from Merc luxury, but you can't miss "luxury" touches like front-power windows and air-conditioning on the deluxe version - which must be another first on such a cheap vehicle.

The seats are flat and hard with simple, hard-wearing fabrics designed like a seat in a bus.

Don't forget that in India, if a car is officially a five-seater, it's unofficially twice that number - which leads me to another great thing about the Nano - its ability to take heavy loads.

For a car that weighs a mere 600kg, the Nano feels incredibly robust.

You expect the doors to rattle, the seats to squeak and those dinner-plate sized wheels to buckle driving over rough Indian roads.

But instead, the Nano feels rigid, well-screwed together and deftly darts from one pothole to another with ease.

The suspension copes with any sort of surface and the Nano's massive ground clearance can shame some off-roaders.


Sprightly

As expected in a car with such dinky proportions, the ride does get a bit choppy on uneven surfaces and there's a tendency for the nose to bob up and down but those graduating from a scooter won't have cause to complain.

Crank the Nano's 623cc engine and it fires with a muffled "pud, pud, pud". The thrum of a two-cylinder motor is obvious but again, it doesn't make the racket I expected.

It feels sprightly off the mark and comfortably keeps up with the flow of city traffic.

In fact, the more crowded the street, the better the Nano gets. The turning circle is astonishing, possibly the tightest on any car. The ability to hang a U-turn on any street, the high-seating position and great all-round visibility only add to the Nano's user-friendliness.


Some of India's roads may be
a challenge for the Nano


But while the Nano feels completely at home in a congested, low-speed driving environment, it's out of sorts on an open road.

The little Tata runs out of puff quite quickly and progress after 70kph (44mph) is painfully slow and top speed is limited to 105kph.

This certainly isn't a highway car but that's not going to stop people from using it as one.


Pocket science

That's the concern Tata engineers had as well and have worked quite hard to ensure that it's fairly stable with a full load at maximum speed.

The brakes are reasonably effective as well and do the job. I had to keep reminding myself that I was driving a car that costs just over 100,000 rupees to judge the Nano in the right perspective.

It thrilled me with its "proper car" feel and I also learnt to forgive it for its shortcomings. I can live with the ridiculously small 15-litre fuel tank because the car's phenomenal efficiency (18-20 kilometres to a litre) would give it decent range.

However, I would have liked a bit more power to make overtaking less of a planned operation and the glass to open at the rear like a conventional hatch. The only way to put the handful of bags in the Nano's "boot" is by flipping the rear seats forward. I found that cumbersome and annoying.

Of course, for this incredible price the Nano is bound to have compromises but the brilliance of this car lies in the way Tata has finely judged exactly what Nano buyers expect and what they don't.

That's where the foreign car companies would fail. The Nano, made by pocket science and not rocket science, is a triumph of Indian ingenuity.


The author is the editor of Autocar India, the country's leading motoring magazine.


BBC NEWS | South Asia | Nano: Triumph of Indian ingenuity
 

EnlightenedMonk

Member of The Month JULY 2009
Senior Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
3,831
Likes
28
Boss... The car is attracting Rave Reviews throughout the world... People are saying that this is the next big "game changer" in the automotive world... The next Model-T as it were...

Also please post some international opinions about this here so that we may all read and rejoice at our triumph...
 

Pintu

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
12,082
Likes
348
Ratan Tata to hand over first Nano key tomorrow - India Business - Business - NEWS - The Times of India

Ratan Tata to hand over first Nano key tomorrow
PTI 16 July 2009, 05:57pm IST

NEW DELHI: Five years after his promise to build a people's car, Ratan Tata will hand over the key of his dream project - the Nano - to its first customer on Friday.

From the birth of the dream in 2003, to its launch in 2008 and finally its delivery in 2009, the Nano's journey has been anything but smooth.

The car, first showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo last year, was at the centre of much controversy as its proposed plant site in West Bengal became a rallying point for Mamata Banerjee and her party to gain political mileage.

The controversy surrounding the site led Ratan Tata to abandon Singur and shift the Nano's production to Gujarat.

But the overwhelming support for Tata's dream car was evident when the booking opened early this year. Despite the slowdown in the auto sector, the car attracted over 2.05 lakh bookings.

In the first lot over 1.55 lakh cars would be delivered and the first one lakh will be sold at the announcement price of Rs 1 lakh, making it the cheapest four-wheels in the world.

Tata had earlier said that 'a promise is a promise' and keeping his promise he would hand over the first car tomorrow at the price-protected rate.

The company intends to deliver the first one lakh cars by March 2010. The selection process for the next lot of 55,021 cars has also been done.

The Nano, with a 623-cc rear-engine car and a fuel economy of over 23 km per litre, has cost over Rs 2,000 crore to build.

The car carries a price range of Rs 1.23 lakh to Rs 1.72 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the three different variants.

At present, the car is rolled out from its Pantnagar facility, which has an annual capacity of 50,000 units.
 

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top